Don’t get too excited. Unless you’re a die hard Indy 500 fan, or you know the car was used to shuttle Takuma Sato around town, you’re probably not going to be too excited about this 2017 Chevrolet Camaro SS Official Vehicle. There were 101 of these special edition Camaros produced for the 101’st running of the Indy 500 and used as “festival” cars – ferrying officals and VIP’s around Indianapolis. Actually, 51 were used as festival cars and 50 were never driven, and all 101 moved to dealerships after the race for sale. In years past “festival” cars, having been driven around Indy, were subsequently sold as used cars. Chevrolet’s strategy now is to sell 50 as new cars and the 51 as used. Who knows which this was? I’m thinking since it was titled with 2,800 miles it was one of the 51. Regardless, it’s not a 50th anniversary 2017 Camaro SS Indy Pace car. A unicorn-lite?
So what do you get when you buy a 2017 Camaro Indy Official car? Well, according to the Indianapolis Speedway web page:
The 2017 Festival Camaros feature a Summit White exterior, blue center stripe, black convertible top and Adrenaline Red leather interior. The Festival Camaros carry the unique production option code designation (Z4Z) that signifies Indianapolis 500 Festival-only option content. Included in the (Z4Z) package is a body-length blue stripe with a watermark Indianapolis Motor Speedway Wing and Wheel logo, red fender hash marks, gloss black lower front splitter, special SS grille with red accents and black Chevrolet bowtie emblems. The 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 event logo adorns the doors, and a special rocker stripe completes the package.
That’s it?! Reminds me of when my best friend bought a brand new Chevrolet screamer back in 1981 (I think) called a Citation X-11. Had a high output 135 hp six cylinder and tweaked suspension. I wanted one too and went in to a Chevy dealer to ask about buying one but they were all out. The salesman tried to put me in a regular Citation scoffing, “the X-11 is just an appearance package!”. Ha! He had no idea what a hot rod a real X-11 was. (Turns out my buddy’s X-11 was a total piece of crap and melted down early.) Well, this Indy Official Car thing really, truly is an appearance package – but one only 101 other Camaro driver’s have. I guess that’s a unicorn.
In fairness, the Camaro SS is still a pretty decent sports car with an LT1 6.2L V-8, which offers 455 naturally aspirated horsepower. This particular convertible also has air conditioned and heated seats, a heated steering wheel, Android Auto and Apple Carplay, and a Bose audio system. What’s interesting is CarMax has six other 2017 Camaro SS’s identically equipped around the same price and mileage point without the Indy livery – being 1 of 101 means it ain’t selling at a premium at all! So if you want to think positively about this car, think you get to have a rare car that costs you nothing extra? And that’s where I started this piece – if you dig Indy a lot or were there in 2017 and want a great souvenir, well you can find this single owner one coming soon here in Columbia, South Carolina. And skip MaxCare – this one is probably not coming into the pits any time soon.
